Mamie's Biscuits - Conyers, GA

Posted By Michael Stern on January 25, 2003 3:16 PM

If there is a heaven for biscuit-lovers, it’s got to be a lot like Mamie’s. As you walk into the little restaurant at the edge of Conyers, look beyond the order counter into the kitchen. There, throughout the day, you will see biscuits being made by hand, one at a time, from dough pulled out of a big silver bowl. And you see big trays of golden brown ones hot from the oven, ready to serve. The biscuits you eat at Mamie’s are always warm and fresh, but it is possible that you may arrive at a moment in time when the ones you are about to receive are still baking. So you place your order and pay, then find a seat and wait. Soon before you will appear the fluffiest, tastiest, best-smelling biscuits you ever imagined.

There’s nothing wrong with a plain one into which you melt some butter; but Mamie’s has a whole menu of great things to put inside. Our choice for a biscuit sandwich is country ham – a slice or two of ultra-flavorful, super-salty pink meat with just enough oily smack to imprint the fleecy soft insides. For those who want a serious taste of pig, there’s streak o’ lean, which is similar to bacon but thicker, crunchier, and even more luscious. It is also possible to get a biscuit or two split open and smothered with creamy sausage gravy, or crowned with a piece of pan-fried chicken with gravy made from the drippin’s in the skillet.

Lunch at Mamie’s is terrific, too: it’s meat and threes, with such entrees as chicken and dressing, pork chops, or meat loaf with sides of collards and sweet potatoes and – instead of biscuits – hunks of cornbread loaded with the succulent pork nuggets known as cracklin’s.

Overall Rating

biscuits

cracklin' cornbread

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Posted By Robert Mullan on April 2, 2013 10:27 AM

Big-time disappointment, given Michael's initial review (note, however, that that review is a decade old now). Biscuits were freshly made, but disturbingly chewy. Gravy had virtually zero flavor (not the sausage-containing variety, alas); massive amounts of salt couldn't rescue it. Eggs were runny and tepid. Nonetheless, the place was thronged and parking was difficult. I'll certainly never go back.

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biscuits

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Posted By Jay Tanenbaum on January 29, 2011 12:34 PM

Very disappointing lunch. The biscuits were nothing more than steamed buns, as they are prepared in advance, then wrapped in paper so that whatever texture they might have had is lost. Cracklin' cornbread has no cracklins, none. Two entrees were available: a bit of shredded white meat chicken over a dry block of dressing, and Mamie's fried chicken, which was just a boneless skinless breast, batter-dipped and fried. A shameful dish, unworthy of any real Southern kitchen. Only one green vegetable was available; the rest of the sides were starches, and mediocre ones at that.

Mamie's isn't worthy of even a block-out-of-your-way drive.

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biscuits

cracklin' cornbread

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Posted By Joe Katz on July 31, 2004 3:41 PM

We ate at the Lithonia GA branch of Mamie's -- superb! It's located at 2821 Evans Mill Road, right off Exit 74 of I-20. Biscuits were just as heavenly as Michael wrote, and the proprietor, Tammy Howard, couldn't have been nicer. When our teenage son found the iced tea not to his liking (i.e., it was real iced tea), she bought him a hot chocolate on the house, along with our biscuits to go!

The peppery sausage was well-spiced, with a nice crunch to the exterior. Country ham was properly salty and toothsome, and the grits and eggs provided a creamy contrast. Along with the afore-mentioned biscuits and strong coffee, it was an exemplary Southern breakfast.

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